


The Candidate

by The_Plaid_Slytherin



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Politics, Domestic Fluff, Gen, M/M, Married Stannis Baratheon/Davos Seaworth, Stannis Week 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 18:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11514681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/pseuds/The_Plaid_Slytherin
Summary: Stannis makes an announcement over breakfast.





	The Candidate

**Author's Note:**

> Written for "Alternate Universe" day of Stannis Week. Since I was informed that this meant non-canon AUs, this is what I did!

Stannis brought his news to the breakfast table. The breakfast table was the ideal place for news, in his view. Everyone was prepared to face the day and it was often best to get these things over with before you were apart from these people for the next eight hours.

He set his coffee cup down with a sense of finality. "I got a call yesterday afternoon from a woman from Asshai. Her name's Melisandre. She liked some of the work we did on the Roseroad interchange." 

He could already see he was losing his audience with talk of civil engineering, though certain others would be better served to show more respect to the infrastructure projects that put food on the table or kept them in college pursuing less useful subjects. 

"She's a publicist, you see. She said she thought I had, well, potential. She thinks I should run for Robert's old council seat." _  
_  
Shireen looked up from her book. (Stannis was past the point of taking it from her, which he was sure would send the wrong message, so she was only obliged to put it up and look at the rest of them at dinner.)

Renly paused in eating marshmallow cereal straight from the box. 

Baby Cressen stared at him from his high chair, mouth open, but that might have been because Davos was about to stick the spoon in.

"What do you think?" Stannis prodded.

"I think it's wonderful, Daddy!" Shireen said.

"Can you win?" That was Renly. "Cersei's family has pots of money."

"Uh- _bah_!" from Cressen. 

"Davos?"

Davos fed the baby another spoonful of strained peaches. "I think you have every right to. The seat's been in your family for…?"

"Two hundred ninety-eight years," Stannis and Renly said at the same time.

"There you go." 

"It won't be that easy," he said. "Renly is right. The Lannisters have the financial advantage."

"And people who voted for your father and your grandmother might be excited to vote for you." 

Stannis tried to picture someone being excited to vote for him. His imagination wasn't as convincing as Melisandre's words had been.

"Will we get to be on TV, Daddy?" Shireen asked.

"Maybe," Stannis said. "There will be televised debates and they usually show the families."

Even as the words left his mouth, the idea of himself in a televised debate with Cersei sent his stomach roiling. Perhaps this was a bad idea. Perhaps he ought to stay at the firm. He certainly made a good living and there were lots of interesting projects coming up. 

"We'd have to move," he said. 

Davos wiped Cressen's mouth. "It would be an adventure." 

"You want Daddy to run, don't you, Cress?" Shireen asked her little brother eagerly. 

Cressen gave her a gummy grin.

Stannis watched them, a strange smile spreading across his face. "You really think so?"

"Sure," said Renly. "Better you than her." 

"I'll take that as a supportive remark."

Renly just smirked. "C'mon, kid," he said to Shireen, "I'll take you to school on my way to class."

After they had left, Stannis set about clearing the table while Davos wiped Cressen's mouth and hands. Stannis did not know how to broach the topic now that they were alone. He rolled up his sleeves, flipped his tie over his shoulder, and began to wash the dishes.

"Have you told Cressen?" Davos asked after a while. "Not our Cressen, of course…" 

"Not yet." Stannis' mentor—his _father's_ mentor—would have to be consulted, of course. He'd withdrawn from the business in his retirement, his full attentions given to the next generation of Baratheons, his namesake especially, but he was always happy to give a second opinion on Stannis' ideas. 

"He'll be proud of you." Davos began to dry as Stannis washed. 

"Will he be?"

"I know he'll be. And _I'm_ proud of you. I just have one concern." He paused. "Me."

"You?" Stannis would have been lying if he said he didn't know what Davos was talking about. He didn't look like any of Robert's colleagues' spouses. His hair was to his collar and pulled back in an ineffective ponytail. He was wearing old jeans and a faded Seagard Tech T-shirt, with a dish towel over his shoulder to complete the ensemble. 

Stannis thought he had never looked sexier.

"You're perfect," he said honestly.

Davos smiled. "Flattering as that may be..."

"I won't run if you don't want me to."

"I wouldn't dream of stopping you. I know what that seat means to you. I just wanted to make sure you've thought about what you're getting into."

"I don't want to hurt you. Or the children."

"Oh, we've thicker skins than that. All of us. And Renly will get excited, I know. He could help you out at the college and on social media."

Was that... apps and things? Stannis wasn't sure. The whole prospect suddenly sounded daunting. 

"I'll give that Mel a call back. We can talk it over. All three of us."

Davos smiled. "Sure." He kissed Stannis, and Stannis could not resist him, could never resist him. He molded his body to Davos', hooking his thumbs through the belt loops of his jeans.

"Mm," Davos murmured, his beard brushing Stannis' cheek.

They were interrupted by a banging from the high chair.

Davos drew back. "Later," he promised.

Stannis suddenly wondered at this wisdom of this. How would they find time for each other if they added a political campaign to their lives, alongside two children and an adult who refused to leave?

"I'll come home for lunch...?" Or at nap time. 

Davos smiled. "Do. I'll want to hear all about your morning call."

Stannis kissed them both and grabbed his briefcase. He would call Mel. At least to get an idea of a plan.

Maybe this wasn't such an awful idea after all.


End file.
